“We’re not here to hurt you,” Eva said, louder. “We just want a room. We’ll be gone tomorrow at dusk.”
Two wide eyes peeked up over the edge of the counter. As far as Eva could tell, he hadn’t even noticed Serena.
Not until she stepped forwards with a kind smile. “Hey there,” she said in a sweet tone of voice that definitely did not fit her. “How much for a single room until tomorrow night for three people?”
His eyes swiveled over to meet with Serena’s. Immediately, he started to calm down. She was probably up to more mind control things.
Eva didn’t bother asking. Whatever worked.
“Eight–” His voice cracked. “Eighty-four dollars.”
Serena glanced over towards Eva. “Eighty-four, he says.”
“I can–” Eva paused. Her words turned to a sigh.
Eva had money. Anti-scrying packets, though she hadn’t made any in a while—Juliana had been the main driving force behind their continued business—had provided her with a decent income for her first year and a half at Brakket Academy. All that money was back at Brakket.
“I knew I was forgetting something.”
Serena rolled her eyes. “I’ll pay.”
Meeting with the clerk’s eyes, she reached back behind her dress and pulled out…
Nothing.
She didn’t even have pockets on the back of her dress.
From the thin air held in her hands, she started miming as if she were counting out dollar bills. Eventually, she held out her hand and offered absolutely nothing to the clerk.
He accepted and started counting it out as well.
“There’s an extra ten here,” he said as he reached the end. One of his hands held up some more empty air.
“For you,” Serena said with a sickeningly sweet smile. “For putting up with us. Also, because we value our privacy and would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone we were here.”
His eyes shifted towards Eva for just a moment. “I can do that,” he squeaked out in his cracking voice. The one hand drifted to his back pocket, slipping nothing into it. He put the rest of the nothing into the cash register.
Reaching under the counter, he pulled out a very real key. “One-oh-eight,” he said as he held it out to Serena.
“Thank you my dear.” She took the key and turned. Her smile vanished before her back was fully facing him. “Come on,” she said to Eva. “Let’s get Nel and get the blankets set up around the windows.”
Eva waited until they were back out at the truck before whispering to Serena. “Won’t they notice that the register is short by almost a hundred dollars?”
“You didn’t notice?” Serena asked with an eyebrow raised. “He forgot to actually record our stay. When they go to empty the register, the amount contained within should be the same as whatever it is supposed to be had we not been here. Unless someone has been embezzling.”
“Let’s hope that they don’t come knocking at the door in the middle of the day.”
Serena frowned, but shrugged after a moment. “If they do, I’ll hide out in the bathroom. They probably won’t have windows in there. You can scare them off.”
“Oh. Joy.”
“You’re the one who didn’t bring money,” Serena said as she pulled a roll of duct tape and a large bag of thick blankets from the back of the truck.
Inside the truck, Nel looked to be struggling with escaping. It seemed that she couldn’t find the lever to push the seat forwards and allow her exit.
Serena noticed, deepening her frown as she watched Nel. “I’ll try to stay awake, but I might sleep through part of the day. Don’t leave me alone with her. I’d rather you didn’t leave the room at all, but if you have to, wrap me up in some blankets and dump me in the bathroom. Just take Nel with you.”
Eva blinked. She hadn’t been planning on leaving at all. She still had research to do. Even if she needed a break from that, there was probably a television.
Except, while she could go without food for a time, Nel would probably be starving by nightfall.
“We might leave for food at some point in the day. I’ll be sure she goes with me.”
“Thank you.”
—
“We’re stopping again?” Nel asked as the group pulled into another side-of-the-road motel. “But we’re almost there.”
Eva glanced over her shoulder at the augur. She had been fairly quiet over the course of their three-day journey. She never spoke to Serena and really only spoke to Eva while the vampire was asleep. Nel herself only slept while in the truck. Since they only drove for a handful of hours a night, she was looking awfully tired.
Bags lined her eyes and her lids drooped as she looked out the truck window.
Maybe Eva would do her a favor and slip a sleeping potion into her drink tonight. She could understand nervousness and paranoia given who they were after, but there was a point at which it just became reckless and damaging to everyone else.
“Still have some preparations. If we want Serena with us, it would be better to start off on a fresh night, rather than one half gone. Unless you want to go and fight Sawyer on your own with no help.”
Nel fell silent, glancing down at her feet.
“I’ll get us a room,” Serena said as she cut off the engine and hopped out of the truck.
Ever since that first night, Eva had kept herself hidden from as many people as possible. Serena could pass herself off as a human much better than Eva could. Vampires did so all the time. With Eva’s distinctive appearance, no one wanted any rumors about her to spread around and potentially reach Sawyer’s ears.
“How long will these preparations take?”
“Potentially all day tomorrow. I’ve got one ritual in particular that I want to try as soon as we get the room set up. A few things depend on the success of that ritual.”
“What will it do?”
“I’d rather not get your hopes up. If it works, you’ll see. If it doesn’t, no hopes dashed.”
Frowning, Nel gave a slight nod of her head.
Neither of them spoke until Serena returned. There was a small trickle of red dripping down her chin that did not go unnoticed by Nel.
Nel’s face turned colors as she pointed at the vampire’s lips. “You didn’t!”
“It was just a quick snack,” Serena said with a shrug as she licked the blood from her mouth. “He won’t even feel anemic when he wakes up. More importantly,” she held up a key.
“Don’t worry about it,” Eva cut in before Nel could make a scene. “Let’s just get everything set up. Unless you want to spend even longer outside of Ylva’s presence.”
That silenced Nel faster than anything else. It was something that Eva had picked up on over the past few days. Nel had a problem with Serena, that much was clear. But she had a bigger problem being away from Ylva. The hel represented safety and protection for her, or something like that.
Argument over, they quickly carted everything they needed into their room. Nel and Serena actually managed to work together in duct taping thick blankets over the windows. Eva shoved one of the beds out of the way and got to work.
The ritual circle didn’t need to be all that large, thankfully. Her room would work just fine. Performing it out in the middle of the parking lot would reveal herself to all spectators or passers-by that were around and create more chances that Sawyer would hear of their proximity to his location.
After finishing with the windows, Nel covered up the smoke detectors and set up a miniature altar. As soon as she was done, she lit up some frankincense.
Frankincense, Eva thought with absolute revulsion. She tried to ignore it, but ugh.
Ever since she had first met the augur, Nel had always had the scent of frankincense clinging to her person and clothes. Eva had never spent enough time in her presence to become so thoroughly disgusted with the scent. She really had no idea how the augur could stand it. Three days of being stuck in a stuffy car and tiny motel rooms with Nel almost had Eva in a murderous rage.